Appetizer:
Birds of Prey #123 -- Bedard, you tease...boo; well, the Joker/Babs showdown this issue was on the criminal side of anti-climactic, but it does set up next issue, where we readers should obtain some satisfaction; other than that, we find out a bit more about the members of the Silicon Syndicate, find out Calculator's working a double-cross (shocking, I know), and that's about it; serviceable, but now feels a bit padded, Bedard can do better; a bit disappointing.

Entree:Final Crisis #4 -- I remain thoroughly unimpressed; Morrison's ideas, while good, take a huge backseat to more God awful dialogue and frankly poor storytelling; you can tell his love for the Flash because Barry's scenes are easily the best in the book, but the New Gods talk like idiots, Black Canary is a barely slightly tougher version of Sue Storm from the early 60s, the scene shifts are just as jarring as ever, and it took me two reads to figure out half of what went on...and I'm NOT dumb; art was nice enough to be split between two guys (they are both great artists after all), but this whole series so far is a disappointment at best and a cluster-#%&$ at worst; did not like it.

Dessert:
Secret Invasion #7 -- meanwhile, the event I expected to hate is rocking my face; SI also suffers from the FC (and most other events these days) trap of needing all the tie-ins to REALLY know what's going on, but what is covered in the main mini is spectacular; issue-long slobberknocker, with equal parts great and terrible dialogue, but the good far outweighs the bad here; Spidey cracks wise, Thor and Ares act as gods, Wolverine goes berserk, the Young Avengers (particularly Stature) get nice moments, Fury and Osborn snipe at each other while kicking ass, Noh-Varr stomps down, Jan and "Hank" have a marital tiff, Uatu shows up, Mr. & Mrs. Cage are reunited, and Hawkeye (HELL YEAH, the REAL Hawkeye!) drops the hammer on the Queen, all leading to one last desperation gambit from the Skrulls, boding poorly for the wasp and the rest of our heroes as well; I still will never be a fan of Yu's art, but it doesn't distract too badly from this story either; one of the most enjoyable things I've read from Bendis, even if it is just popcorn summer blow-'em-up; loved it.

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